The present invention relates to a door handle device that can be mounted, for example, on the outer panel of a vehicle door.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-25261 describes a vehicle door handle device, wherein a vehicle door is provided with an operating handle comprising a handle main body having an housing recess for housing and fastening a board on which an electronic component such as a tact switch is mounted, and a cover member, which is joined to the handle main body so as to cover this housing recess, in which a tact switch, which switches switching modes in accordance with push-operations of an operation button facing the outer surface of the cover member, is electrically connected to a printed circuit on the board, and fastened accommodated within the housing recess, the interior of the housing recess being filled with a potting agent.
With the handle device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-25261, a switch cover made from an elastic material, which covers the tact switch, is connected to the operation button, and this switch cover is integrally provided with a flange which abuts the face of the board so as to surround the periphery of the tact switch. Furthermore, the flange on the switch cover is trapped between the board and a hold down member, which is engaged with the handle main body, and the press stroke of the operation button is regulated to no greater than a predetermined value by this hold down member.
The handle device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-25261 allows for a reduction in the number of assembly steps and simplification of the assembly work, and because the press stroke of the operation button is regulated to no greater than a predetermined value by the hold down member, application of excessive pushing loads to the tact switch can be prevented.
Furthermore, the handle device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-25261 makes it possible to bring the flange on the switch cover into close contact across the face of the board, so that ingress of water or potting agent toward the tact switch can be prevented.
However, with the handle device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-25261, the button is separated from the switch cover and the hold down member, and thus problems such as the following may occur.
First, there is a risk of the potting agent flowing between the operation button and the hold down member when filling with the potting agent, and supposing that the potting agent were to flow between these, it might not be possible to ensure normal operation of the tact switch in accordance with the push-operations of the operation button.
Furthermore, there is a risk of foreign matter getting between the operation button and the hold down member prior to the cover member being mounted on the handle main body, and thus it may not be possible to ensure normal operation of the tact switch in accordance with the push-operations of the operation button.
Furthermore, there is a possibility of ingress of water droplets between the operation button and the hold down member when the vehicle is used and, if these water droplets freeze in a cold climate, there is a risk of not being able to perform the push-operations of the operation button.
Furthermore, the handle device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-25261 does not have a structure that guides the pushing direction of the operation button, and therefore the operability of the tact switch may be inferior in cases where, for example, the operation button is pushed from an oblique lateral direction.